Former Manchester Teacher Heads To Prison After Child Sex Sting Conviction

By Damien Fisher, NH Journal

Former Manchester teacher Stacey Lancaster, 47, was sentenced Monday to 13 years in prison following his conviction on one count of attempted sex trafficking of a minor.

Lancaster, a Hudson resident, reportedly agreed to pay $100 to have sex with a 12-year-old child. He brokered the deal online while on duty during school hours, according to court records.

A Navy veteran, Lancaster was Manchester West High School’s lead NJROTC instructor when he was arrested. What he thought was an online ad for sex-trafficked children turned out to be a federal sting operation. Lancaster was arrested in the parking lot of the Manchester Econo Lodge, where he believed he was meeting the child’s pimp. He was fired by the school district shortly after his arrest.

Federal agents set up the sting in 2024, using an online ad to draw out men seeking sex with children, according to court records. Lancaster reportedly responded to the ad while at work and engaged in a text exchange with an undercover agent posing as the pimp.

Lancaster communicated online with someone offering two young girls for paid sex. He was first offered the 12-year-old, but appeared skeptical after seeing her photo.

“Did you say she’s 12? Are you being serious? That’s really bad if it’s true,” Lancaster texted after seeing the child’s photo, according to court records.

The undercover agent then offered a 14-year-old girl instead, but Lancaster set aside his initial hesitation and chose the 12-year-old. Lancaster finished his work at the high school that afternoon and drove to the Manchester hotel to complete the transaction, according to court records.

In the hotel parking lot, Lancaster frisked the undercover agent to check for a hidden recording device, then proceeded to complete the deal, telling the agent he had brought a condom. Agents with Homeland Security Investigations and Manchester Police then emerged and arrested him.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Justice Department to combat the sexual exploitation and abuse of children. Led by U.S. attorneys’ offices and the department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, the program coordinates federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who exploit children and to identify and rescue victims.

A Justice Department official said the case “represents a betrayal of the trust placed in educators.”

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.